Riders suffers 73-67 loss to Iona

By Benjamin Shinault

Following an upset win over the Marist Red Foxes, Rider men’s basketball returned home to take on the Iona Gaels on Jan. 23. Despite their momentum heading into the game, the Broncs couldn’t finish off the Gaels and lost 73-67.

“Really disappointing and frustrating loss tonight. Can’t say it any clearer, can’t say it any better,” Head Coach Kevin Baggett said.

From the 17 turnovers, to mis-handling the basketball and a lack of interior defense, the Broncs find themselves losers at home once more.

Rider won the tipoff and tried two 3-pointers right from the jump, but both went unanswered until senior guard Jay Alvarez took it on himself to drive in along the baseline and lay it up while getting fouled. With the free throw, Alvarez put the Broncs up 3-0 early.

Alvarez was a force to be reckoned with against the Gaels, as the senior finished with a career-high 28 points on 13-of-24 shooting from the field. Alvarez also reeled in a team-high seven rebounds and grabbed two steals.

Iona responded in the next possession with a layup of its own that Alvarez immediately answered to put Rider up 5-2. Iona and Rider went on to trade buckets, including graduate student forward Tariq Ingraham muscling through two defenders for an and-1l. 

Coming out of the first timeout with Rider down 9-8, graduate student guard T.J. Weeks Jr. headed to the line to shoot two free throws which put the Broncs up 10-9. 

Following the free throws, the Rider bench got into it, barking at the Iona Gaels, but Iona soon silenced the dogs with an 8-0 run to lead the Broncs 19-12. 

Ingraham stopped the bleeding with a jumper to make it 19-14, which was followed up by junior guard Zion Cruz’s finger-roll layup through some thick Iona traffic to cut the Iona lead to 21-16.

 Unfortunately for Rider, Cruz exited a few minutes later. Baggett, after the game, said it was a sprained ankle and his status for the Quinnipiac matchup on Jan. 25 was unknown.

After the Cruz exit, Weeks came through with a corner three to cut the Gaels lead down to two. 

With Rider now down 21-19, Iona kept its foot on the gas, but the Broncs were able to keep up with Iona’s fast-paced offense with some good looks from Alvarez.

After another layup from Alvarez, the first-half buzzer sounded and the Broncs trailed the Gaels 34-27 at half.

Emerging from the locker room, the Broncs had some work to do and Ingraham got right to it, scoring six of Rider’s first eight points to start the second half. Ingraham finished the game with 15 points and five rebounds. 

The second half, similar to the first half, was punch-for-punch, each team waiting for the other to blink. With the score 39-35, Weeks came through with another 3-pointer, closing the gap to only one point. In five of his last six games, Weeks has hit at least two 3-pointers.

Iona kept Rider an arm’s length away, but the arm wasn’t long enough as the Broncs were able to tie the game at 47 with an Alvarez bucket with just under 13 minutes to go. 

Following the tie, Rider then grabbed the lead 50-47 off an and-1 from freshman guard Flash Burton. Burton, who was recently named Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Rookie of the Week.

Iona, in its next possession, scored a bucket to come back within one, and soon after, Alvarez sent the rim rocking with a one-handed flush that sent Alumni Gym in a frenzy. 

About halfway through the second half, the Broncs held the lead, but had trouble extending it, which led to the Gaels eventually taking it back off a jumper down low, 58-57. 

After the Gaels took back the lead, they never gave it back. With just under four minutes left, the Broncs came within one thanks to a one-hand rim rocker from Weeks. 

But, down the stretch, Rider’s defense couldn’t get a stop and turnovers, once again, cost them in the late stages, dooming the Broncs to a 73-67 loss.

“We talked about if we could take care of the ball, we felt like we could have a good chance to win the game and we turned it over 17 times, and for no reason at all, disappointing,” Baggett said.

Rider moves on to a road game on Jan. 25 against Quinnipiac, who hold a 7-1 MAAC record.

Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m., and the game will be streamed on ESPN+